"Hole in the Sky" is a song by the English heavy metal band

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

. It is the opening track on their sixth studio album, ''

Sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

'', released in 1975.

Composition

Musical structure

Author

Mick Wall Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, author, and radio and TV presenter. He has been described as "the world's leading rock and metal writer". Career Wall began his career contributing to the music weekly ''Sounds'' in 197 ...

wrote that the song features a "door-slamming riff that wouldn't have been out of place on ''

Paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...

''" (the band's second album, released in 1970). Music scholar Nolan Stolz identifies three guitar riffs played by guitarist

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...

in the song: a main riff, a second riff heard at both around 24 seconds and 58 seconds into the track ("similar to—and a logical outgrowth of—the first"), and a third, four-second-long riff present during the song's chorus after the first two verses. Stolz notes that the third riff "is based on a one-second-long rhythmic idea played four times, but with the chords changing on the third and fourth times." This is paired with drummer Bill Ward playing a

tom drum A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as la ...

and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

at both about 120 beats per minute (bpm) and 180 bpm, applying "an Afro-Cuban-like feel". After the fourth verse, the second riff is recalled, and the main riff is played three-and-a-half times before the song comes to an abrupt end. Following the song's sudden cutoff, the album segues immediately into the next track, "Don't Start (Too Late)", an acoustic

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

that runs for under a minute in length. Wall asserts that the abrupt ending of "Hole in the Sky" emphasises "the sheer anger of the song".

Vocals and lyrics

"Hole in the Sky" features vocals by

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

. Author

wrote that, in the song, "Ozzy rants and raves about going through a hole in the sky, 'seeing nowhere through the eyes of a lie. Philosopher and writer William Irwin characterizes the song as having themes of "cosmic travel" and "apocalyptic warfare".

Bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

and songwriter

Geezer Butler Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is a English musician and songwriter. He is best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heaven & Hell ...

described "Hole in the Sky" as being about

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

Reception

In 2020, Joe DiVita and Eduardo Rivadavia of ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

'' ranked "Hole in the Sky" number 23 in their ranking of every Black Sabbath song from the era in which Osbourne was the band's vocalist. In 2021, ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

''s Paul Brannigan ranked the song number 19 on his list of the 40 best Black Sabbath songs, referring to the track as "a master class in straight-to-the-point metal."

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Bill Ward –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hole In The Sky (Song) 1975 songs Black Sabbath songs Songs written by Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Tony Iommi Songs written by Geezer Butler Songs written by Bill Ward (musician) British heavy metal songs